AND THOSE SAME WINDS BLOW....

Ive been doing a little reading.

The "strong wind warning" persists north of here all the way to the tip of Australia... never ceasing winds of 25-30 knots. And, I wait.

Ok, so whats holding me up? Shearwater sails beautifully with the wind behind. 30 knots is not catastrophic wind in any sense. No, that's not the problem. It's this unique spot on the Australian coast...replete with reefs, shoals, high winds, poor anchorages and, tanker traffic....well, let me quote from the fine cruising guide by Alan Lucas as he describes Captain Cook's adventures in these very same waters, in the time of Mozart and just before Napoleon, 1770:

"Historically, this section of the Coral Coast has more significance than any other part of Australia for it was here where Endeavour came close to disaster....leaving us only to conject on Captain Cook's extraordinary decision to sail off-shore during the night when he should have come to anchor.
'At this time we shortened sail and hauled off east north east, close upon the wind for it was my design to stretch off all night as well as avoid the danger we saw ahead.'

"Deepening their water, they were alarmed when it suddenly shoaled."

'But meeting at the next cast of the lead with deep water again we concluded that we had gone over the tail of the shoals ...and that all danger had past; before ten we had twenty and one and twenty fathoms and, this depth continuing, the gentlemen left the deck in great tranquility and went to bed'.

"Soon after, Endeavour struck the reef that would bear her name."

And did I mention the nightmare of 'anchor drag'?

Again, Alan Lucas: "Conditions off Cape Bedford deteriorated to the extent of more cable being veered, another anchor dropped...until Endeavour stopped dragging. She did not continue her journey until the 10th at which time she closed the land toward Cape Flattery."

Did he say Cape Bedford? Cape Flattery?....those are my next destinations!

And so, in my own little craft, despite its huge navigational advantages over those of Captain Cook and despite the fact he was first and Im just last in a long line of followers, despite all this - the same reefs sit, the same shoals confuse, the same waters churn, the same 'havens' beckon and anchors drag....indeed... the same winds blow.